Outstanding Performances of the Week

	Isabelle $50,000 ITF Pro Circuit Qualifier
Sofia U18 ITF Burlington Semi-Finalist Singles	Ivan U18 ITF Burlington Finalist Singles	Ines U18 ITF BurlingtonFinalist Doubles

Those who know me knows that I am soooo not the type to brag.  I am much more at home with being humble however, this past week was a fantastic week for our ORC players that I had to make an exception!  There were two events going on at the same time - the U18 ITF in Burlington and the ITF Pro Circuit at the Aviva Center.  

We had 10 players from ORC competing in Burlington and two players competing in the Pro Circuit with 5 coaches taking turns to watch in between lessons.  It was exciting to see how our players fought and over came their fears and persevered.  

To name a few:

Sofia came through 3 rounds of quailifying and defeated 8th and 4th seeds to reach the semi-finals. Sofia over the last four weeks, in addition to her regular afternoon practices, made a jump in her training by coming out every morning from 6:30AM - 8:00AM, and squeezed in extra lessons between her school periods.  Great to see her hard work paid off.

Ivan's entire game revolves around outhinking his opponents.  He is a defensive player and was not very comfortable at net until now.  Since this summer, Ivan worked diligently on improving his net game and overheads.  He transformed into an all court player which takes a lot of courage.  No guts, no glory is what I always say.  He showed plenty of that this week by utilizing his new skills to overcome the 10th and 1st seeds that took him to the finals.

Ines had a huge three weeks playing in three consecutive ITF tournaments in Vancouver, Victoria, and Burlington.  Ines reached two quarter-finals in singles and three finals in doubles where she jumped more than 500 spots in the ITF singles ranking.  Ines was not a fan of coming to the net. Her persistence in playing the right way is slowly coming together for her.

Isabelle, 15 years old, opted to compete in the $50,000 ITF Pro Circuit last week held at the Aviva Center.  She was granted a wildcard by Tennis Canada in the qualifying which she won three rounds then lost in the first round main draw to a fellow Canadian.  For the first time, Isabelle established a world ranking of 1,143.  

A big applause to all the competitors for their great efforts.  Now that the tournament is completed, it is time to get back to work and get ready for the next one.  As always, your comments are welcome.